Not invented in the gameworld. I don’t want to echo Robert Jordan on this one. 
Metallic aether, including Talismans, cannot cross a Ward. Mullow and shrub yams can, as it’s been thousands of plant-generations since the original landraces were tampered with. Mullow was indeed developed first, with shrub yam following only when the demand for blood began to exceed the readily harvestable population.
The equator would not show up on the world map – it’s well to the south. The continent is in the northern hemisphere.
Sure you can! You can be one of many flavors of authoritarian, including the idealistic kind. I’m just not trying to write any of those flavors as the natural, optimal, or divinely appointed outcome.